NFL Player News

Royal burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2008 with a monster Week 1 performance, catching nine passes for 146 yards and a touchdown. Three years later and he’s nowhere close to the fantasy radar. There’s a good chance he gets passed by Eric Decker on the depth chart before long, though both will start when Denver goes three wide. Still, he’s not worth owning in any format.

Kelly previously spent time on injured reserve this year because of a concussion. He has a lengthy history of head injuries. We suspect the team will shut him down for the year after his latest concussion. Michael Jurgens is in at center for Minnesota.

Tuten is expected to miss the rest of the season after undergoing finger surgery this week. Travis Etienne should see an increase in snaps and touches with Tuten sidelined. LeQuint Allen Jr. would presumably function as the team’s RB2 behind Etienne, and could find himself in the lead back role if Etienne were to miss time in the coming weeks.

McCarthy suffered the hand injury while taking a punishing sack from Brian Burns at the end of the first half. He didn’t see Burns coming and was decked, losing the ball in the process. New York recovered it and took it to the house for a touchdown. McCarthy left the game right after the play and was ruled out during halftime. Max Brosmer will take his place in the lineup in the second half.

We last saw London play in Week 11 against the Panthers, when he caught 7-of-9 targets for 119 yards before suffering a PCL sprain. He practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday and Thursday this week before sitting out on Friday. We really would have preferred to see him practice fully at the end of the week, though it is entirely possible that the team gave him the day off for rest and rehab. London’s target-earning ability keeps him in the WR1 tier, though his range of potential outcomes is far wider than normal. The Falcons declared CB Mike Hughes, RB Nathan Carter, LB JD Bertrand, OL Michael Jerrell, WR Casey Washington, DL Elijah Garcia and WR Malik Heath inactive for Week 16 against the Cardinals.

Despite previous reports of a knee injury to Allen, NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe reported at halftime that Allen “had X-rays on his foot and has been cleared to return.” Allen took the field with the Bills on the opening drive of the second half and appears to be good to go.

Flournoy caught a touchdown on Dallas’ first drive and had another negated by a questionable holding penalty on Dallas’ second. The near-instant ruleout does not bode well for his rest-of-season status, which is a shame as he was making quite a push over the last three weeks.

The Cardinals reportedly plan to “ease” Harrison back into action today. Teams often cast aside snap-count plans if their recently injured star player is feeling good early in their return, but Harrison has not yet established himself as a player who regularly exceeds expectations. The prudent move is to treat WR Michael Wilson as a fantasy football WR2 and view Harrison as a WR4/FLEX. Cardinals WR Xavier Weaver (hamstring) is also active. The Cardinals declared CB Max Melton (heel), CB Elijah Jones, CB Darren Hall (concussion), S Jalen Thompson (hamstring), OL Evan Brown (personal) and LT Paris Johnson Jr. (knee) inactive for Week 16 against the Falcons.

Allen took a 22-yard loss on a sack late in the second quarter and could be seen grabbing at his leg after the play. He remained in the game to handle a one-yard QB sneak on the following play, but was being evaluated on the sideline by trainers after the drive. Allen left for the locker room with less than 10 seconds to go before halftime. We should have more info on his injury in the near future.

CBS Sports opted to not show the replay of what is a right-leg injury. Judkins took a hard hit from Bills linebacker Matt Milano after catching a short pass from Shedeur Sanders. Judkins was in visible pain after the play and remained down until the cart came out to take him to the locker room. With Dylan Sampson already out, the Browns’ will turn backfield duties over to Trayveon Williams and Raheim Sanders. Judkins’ day will end with a 8-22-0 rushing line and also caught five passes for 29 yards.

He was initially questionable to return, but ruled out. Austin Deculus took over at left tackle. It hasn’t slowed down the Chargers so far as Los Angeles has scored on every possession against the Cowboys.